


Worse than Chickenpox

by Bees_forever



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Appendicitis, I wrote this mostly to keep my mind off of other things, Kid Fic, Luther Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 13:53:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20310580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bees_forever/pseuds/Bees_forever
Summary: Number One has a bellyache but he can’t go complain about it to Dad again. And anyway it not as bad as Chickenpox. Or is it?





	Worse than Chickenpox

Number one often had bellyaches for no reason. He had no idea why but he had gone to Dad with it and Dad had said it was nothing after he checked him and he said that in his disappointed voice he normally never used for One and that made him feel very bad. Instead he went to Mom who gave him a hot-water bottle and tea before bed to make it better and who - he was pretty sure - didn’t have a disappointed voice.

So when One woke up with really bad bellyache he thought it was one of those that didn’t matter so no reason to go to Dad with it. Maybe that evening Mom would make him some tea and a hot-water bottle but no reason to bother Dad with this again if it was all just in his head anyway. 

“It’s time to wake up, honey!” Mom knocked on his door. 

“I’m already up!” One called and crawled out of bed. Being up early was what Astronauts did. Or that was what Pogo told him at least. When he was big, One was going to go to space too like an astronaut. Dad had promised. 

“That’s good, dear. Get ready now.” 

* * *

Number one did quickly, listening to Mom wake the others. 

He put on his uniform, brushed his teeth and then went to the stairs downstairs.  
The bellyache wouldn’t go away though which was weird. Normally One had to concentrate on something and he could blend the bellyaches out for a bit. He put a hand on his stomach. It was too early to ask Mom for help. They would have training after breakfast and you couldn’t run around with a hot-water bottle during training. 

Number four was the first of his siblings to join him at the stairs. 

He hadn’t tied his tie yet and he looked as if he hadn’t combed his hair either but Four’s hair was harder to comb, One knew that. He had heard the nannies complain about it often when they still had nannies, now they had Mom who would probably fix Four’s hair after breakfast or training. Number one could take care of the tie now though.

“Here,” he set and reached out tying it quickly losing the rime they had learned for it. 

Number four grinned. “Thank yooouuu!” he said and hugged him quickly. Four loved giving hugs. 

“You really need to learn how to do this, Four. Two and me we can’t always go around tying it for you, you know?” 

“Yes, yes,” his brother agreed nodding his head and looking around at other things. 

One knew that he was looking at ghosts of course, he knew that those ghosts were really scary and that he was crying a lot because of them.

Number one wanted to put an arm around Number four and tell him that he would protect him from the ghosts today, because that was what he was supposed to do protect all of his siblings from the bad stuff that came with being like them, but a gigantic bellyache stopped him and he curled up around it a hand pressed on his middle. 

“Are you okay, One?” Four asked and stared at him. 

“Yes. Just a bellyache.” 

“Is it worse than chicken pox or not as bad as chickenpox?” Four asked innocently, they had had chickenpox last year and since then every sickness was put in this system of not as bad or worse than chicken pox. It was a very good system. 

“What’s with chickenpox?” Five spacial jumped to them like he always did a frown on his face, he had been one of the first who went down with chickenpox and it had been really bad for him because he had been so sick he was too weak to jump and also because he had been especially itchy. 

“I got a bellyache but it’s not as bad as chickenpox,” One explained simply. 

“Oh. Good,” Five said and made a face. 

“You can’t get chickenpox again, Five, remember? ‘cause we got it once we can’t get it again,” Four said and smiled at their brother. 

* * *

Once the others had joined them at the stairs they waited for Mom to ring the bell that let them know they were allowed to come downstairs. 

They had only started to eat breakfast at the big table with Dad since their last birthday and it made One very proud even though now they couldn’t talk with each other anymore. But that was just how grown-ups ate, without talking and getting educated. 

They went downstairs in pairs holding hands.  
One and Two.  
Three and Four. 

Five and Six.  
And little Number seven at the end with no one holding her hand. 

“Stuh-st-stop p-pulling me, O-one!” Two complained.  
“I’m not pulling you’re just not fast enough to keep up!” 

“Nuh-Not tr-t-true!” 

They stopped bickering immediately when they saw Dad just as Number three and four stopped talking about what they would play on Saturday behind them.   
Their eyes cast down they went to their seats, having to climb them a little as they were too big for them. 

‘Not for long anymore,’ One thought. Pogo said he was having a real growth spurt and he should be able to get on the chair easily soon. It would probably still be a few years until he could reach the ground with his feet though. 

Their father nodded at them as a sign that they could now start to eat.  
They all ate quickly, especially Number Two who heard that if he always finished his plates he would grow faster and he really wanted to grow faster than number one. 

On any normal day Number One would have eaten just as fast as his brother but today he was the slowest of them. His belly really hurt today and he wished that it would stop. It had never hurt that badly. 

‘ _Is it as bad as chicken pox though?_ ’ One asked himself remembering Four asking about that earlier.   
No, it probably wasn’t as bad as the chickenpox had been. Chickenpox were itchy and annoying and you got a high fever and number One didn’t have a fever if he had Mom or Pogo or Dad would notice.

* * *

Training was horrible that day and One normally really, really liked training. But today it was horrible his belly was aching so badly that he couldn’t pull any punches and Number Two had lots of reason to laugh at him. 

By the end of it he was sweaty and miserable and belly was hurting even more now. 

Number Two made fun of him and his bad performance even after the training was over and Dad looked so disappointed, he had shouted at him a lot.

One felt awful. 

But he still changed out of his workout clothes and got ready for school time. 

Normally One liked training a lot more than school time but today he really liked school time better because he was sitting down and his belly wasn’t hurting so badly anymore. 

Plus he was good enough at school time too. Not as good as Number Five or Number Seven who were pretty much perfect at it but he was right in the middle a little behind Number two in reading and a little in front of him in maths. 

Since he was a little behind on reading Dad made him do that before he could do any maths or science, which One found a little unfair but Pogo would sometimes give him some texts about space and astronauts so that he would at least be interested in what he had to read. 

Today Pogo hadn’t found any texts about space for him and he had to read a text about stupid bodybuilding and how to stay up on proteins. 

It was such a boring text that he had an even harder time reading it than he normally would and with the belly ache it was even harder and really could this day get any worse? 

“Pogo, can I go to the toilette, please?” he asked and looked at the chimpanzee. 

“Well, how far are you with your assignment, young master One?” 

“Uhm… on page two now…” One said. “Please, Pogo? I really need to!” he pleaded.

“Alright, alright. But be quick.”

“Okay, thanks Pogo!” 

“It’s alright don’t tell your father though,” Pogo said and ruffled his hair and One giggled a little despite feeling so bad. Pogo made him laugh often and he also hugged him, Dad never did that. 

* * *

He had no idea what he was doing on the toilette, he just wanted to get away from sitting at his desk and staring at the letters as they started to run into each other while his belly hurt so badly and sometimes walking helped against the bellyaches. This time it hadn’t of course and now he was sitting on the toilette his belly hurting worse than ever before. 

There was a knock at the door. 

“H-hey, One,” two’s voice came from outside the door. “I guh-gotta go too, h-hurry up!” 

One sighed and got up slowly, making a grimasse, his belly still hurt really badly but he walked up to the bathroom door and opened it standing in front of Number Two. 

“Fuh-finally, I th-thought you w.. One?” The annoyance is gone from his voice. “A-a-are you o-okay?” Two asked him. 

One opened his mouth to say something but suddenly he was feeling very dizzy. 

“M-Mom! Come q-qu-quick! There’s s-so-something w-wrong with One!” 

Then the world turned black. 

* * *

When One woke up again he was in the infirmary. 

“Oh, honey, you’re up,” Mom smiled down at him. “No, no sitting up yet,” she said putting a hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting up. “You need to rest still, you’ve been very sick,” she told him. 

“My belly was hurting again,” One told Mom and rubbed his eyes. 

“Yes, sweetheart,” Mom said putting a hand on his cheek and frowning. “You’ve had appendicitis. How are you feeling now?” she asked and looked at him softly. 

“Tired,” One admitted and looked up at her and she smiled at him.

“Do you want me to let your siblings in?” she asked him. “They were all very worried about you.” 

“Really? Yes please!” One said nodding his head. 

Mom smiled nodding her head and opened the door where his siblings are all already standing and waiting. 

“Your brother is awake,” Mom says and the others storm in. 

“One!” Four is fastest and next to the bed first. “Two said you just fell down like after going to the toilette! Don’t do that!” he said and shook his head moving forward to hug him. 

Two nodded his head. “You d-did. Your e-ey-eyes wah-went up, got a-all w-white and you just c-collapsed onto the gr-ground!” he told him shaking his head. 

Seven was frowning at them. “Why didn’t you tell anybody, One?” she asked, softly. 

“I don’t… I just thought it was a normal belly ache like I sometimes got…” 

Five was frowning too. “You really should have told us about it.” 

“Whatever,” Four said waving his hand. “This was way worse than chicken pox!” he said and Six nodded his head. 

“Way worse,” Three told them. “Pogo said that we all gotta tell when we’re hurting because if ap-pen-dic-tis gets too bad you can… die!” she explained sounding out the word ‘appendicitis’ but One had to admit that it was a long and hard word. 

  
“No! You’re not allowed to die! None of you! Ever!” Four said shaking his head so fast that his curls were flying around. “I don’t want to see you as ghosts!” 

Six put his hand on Four’s back. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to die Four.” 

“Promise?” 

“Promise,” Six said and One nodded his head in agreement. 

Silly number Four. None of them would die. 


End file.
